Hyderabad: Despite the traffic police’s best efforts at installing speed guns at various places across the city and booking hundreds of cases against speed offenders, experts say it will not serve the purpose unless speed checking equipment are installed on most roads in the city.
Presently, there are speed radar guns installed at only four places in Hyderabad and four points on the Outer Ring Road in Cyberabad, as a result motorists actually know the spots and are slowing down only at these places where the speed guns are installed and then speeding again — risking their lives and of others’.
Take for instance the speed checking equipment installed on the over 11-km long PVNR expressway. There are sharp curves on this elevated corridor but motorists who often use this stretch are aware of the location of the speed guns. They slow down at such points.
Traffic and transport expert Professor P.R. Bhanu Murthy of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University said the speed radar guns on Tank Bund have been able to curb racing by young bikers to a large extent but they now do it on Necklace Road or Begumpet Road, the long stretches of which are suitable for racing and are bereft of speed checking equipment.
“Abroad, speed checking equipment are installed at multiple points on a single stretch of road. Almost all roads are equipped with the technology to check speed and other traffic violations. That fear is not there among motorists in Hyderabad due to lack of speed guns,” he said.
Chief functionary of Indian Federation of Road Safety, Mr Vinod Kumar, said many motorists lacked social responsibility. Despite four mobile speed checking equipment located 20 to 25 km within each other on Outer Ring Road, motorists continued to over speed. “You drive at a speed of about 100 km/hr on ORR and the moment you hit the other roads in Cyberabad, there is no speed gun. This is
dangerous. The city outskirts should especially have speed guns,” he said.
Cyberabad additional DCP, traffic, Mr Divya Charan Rao, said over 20 cases of speeding are booked on the ORR daily. He, however, admitted that Cyberabad, which covers the outskirts of the city, needed more speed guns. “The state government has sanctioned Rs 34 crore and we are going to acquire over 50 speed laser guns shortly,” he added.
